Ousted Venezuelan President's Trial Date For Drug Trafficking Charges Has Been SetFormer Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife will go to trial for gun and cocaine importation conspiracy charges in June 2027, a judge ruled Wednesday.The couple is being held at Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, New York, after they were captured by U.S. special forces in January in their home in Caracas, Venezuela.Both Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, have pleaded not guilty. Latest Live UpdatesMary Peltola Debuts Computer Game To Highlight Fishing Issue In Senate RaceMary Peltola, the former Alaska congresswoman now running for U.S. Senate, unveiled a retro computer game Wednesday to highlight an issue at the heart of her campaign: overfishing.Dubbed “Salmon Run,” the game allows a player to use their space bar to nudge an 8-bit salmon upward as it moves along a body of water, dodging orcas, seals and sharks. Hitting the bottom means your salmon is at risk of becoming “bycatch,” or marine life that ends up getting caught and killed in nets trawling the ocean floor.These creatures are often discarded, either injured or already dead, including other fish, seabirds, dolphins and whales. Experts say that trawling causes significant damage to marine environments, affecting populations up and down the food chain.Peltola’s game accuses her rival, Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), of taking hundreds of thousands in campaign contributions from the trawling industry.Todd Blanche Denies Telling Dem Senator Trump’s Slush Fund Was ‘A Mistake’Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche is disputing he told Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) that he “made a mistake” by creating a $1.7 billion slush fund for payouts to people claiming they were wronged by the government, like Jan. 6, 2021 rioters.Durbin, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, shared this tidbit with reporters last Tuesday, right after a meeting with Blanche. He and a top aide, who attended the private meeting with Blanche, even said it was a direct quote.But in his written responses to follow-up questions from the committee, where he’s awaiting a vote to be confirmed to his post, Blanche denied Friday that he said that.“In our meeting this week, you said, ‘I made a mistake’ by creating this slush fund,” Durbin asked in his written questions. “Do you stand by this characterization of this slush fund?”“I contest the accuracy of this statement,” Blanche replied.The acting attorney general created Trump’s so-called anti-weaponization fund in May, instructing the Treasury Department to direct a payment of $1.7 billion into an account for payouts to Jan. 6 rioters and others. But the proposal drew sharp bipartisan opposition and the administration said it wouldn’t pursue it anymore.Blanche still won’t rescind his May memo, though, telling senators in his written responses, “As I testified at my confirmation hearing, the Fund is dead.”WATCH: Trump Speaks For Fallen SoldiersBefore setting off to a memorial for troops killed in the Iran conflict, President Donald Trump claimed that the fallen service members backed his military intervention in the Middle East.Trump Says Fallen U.S. Soldiers 'Strongly' Voiced Support For Ongoing Iran WarPresident Donald Trump said the U.S. soldiers killed during his war with Iran voiced support for the ongoing attacks, saying we “cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon.”“They are indeed great heroes, actually. They said, and they, all of them said very strongly, ‘We can’t let, cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon,’” he told reporters before departing to attend a ceremony for four service members recently killed.“So we’re going to honor them. And one of the hardest things to do for me, it’s one of the hardest things for me to do as president, but it has to be done,” he said.Trump went on to defend the now months-long attacks that have cost U.S. taxpayers at least $37.5 billion so far, saying: “Nobody wants Iran to have a nuclear weapon.”.@POTUS delivers remarks prior to departing for the dignified transfer of the 4 American heroes killed in the Middle East:"They are indeed great heroes... We're going to honor them... For me, it's one of the hardest things to do as president." 🙏🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/rTmdKPBuTU— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) July 22, 2026Nolan Wells Independent Autopsy Is Inconclusive: AttorneyAn independent autopsy conducted on Nolan Wells, the 18-year-old Black teenager found dead off the coast of Mississippi after a July 4 boating trip with friends, was inconclusive, civil rights attorney Ben Crump announced Wednesday.The teen’s body was already too decomposed at the time of the second autopsy conducted on July 10. Some of the organs had also already been dissected, and the throat was missing when reviewed by Dr. Roger Mitchell, who is the president of the National Medical Association and former chief medical examiner for Washington, D.C., said Crump.“For these reasons this pathologist cannot rule out if any intervening, non-accidental factors contributed to or caused the death of Nolan Wells,” Crump read from Mitchell’s report.“We are hopeful that the Mississippi Medical Examiner would give Dr. Mitchell an opportunity to see their photographs and their observations to the condition of Nolan Well’s body closer in time to July 4,” Crump said.Trump Issues New Threat To IranPresident Donald Trump issued a new threat to Iran on Wednesday.“From this point forward, any time the Islamic Republic of Iran shoots at a ship in the Strait of Hormuz, whether it be by Missile, Rocket, Drone, or any other device or weapon, the United States will bomb and destroy ONE BRIDGE OR POWER PLANT, including those located next to, or in, the Capital City of Tehran,” he posted on Truth Social.The threat echoes comments made by Secretary of State Marco Rubio earlier in the day at a summit in Manila, Philippines, where he argued “there will be consequences” for further threats from Iran despite ongoing negotiations to end the conflict between the two countries.Mamdani: NYC Doesn’t Have ‘Legal Authority’ To Enforce ICC Arrest Warrant Against NetanyahuMayor Zohran Mamdani on Tuesday acknowledged the limitations of New York City’s legal authority when it comes to enforcing an arrest warrant against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but noted that the federal government doesn’t face the same constraints. “My administration has reviewed every avenue available under applicable law to determine whether New York City can execute the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant if Benjamin Netanyahu came here. It is clear that we do not have the independent legal authority to enforce this warrant,” Mamdani said in a video posted to X. “The federal government, however, does, and I call on them to join the ICC and execute this warrant.”During his mayoral campaign, Mamdani pledged to order Netanyahu’s arrest, and he recently told The New York Times that he was in active discussions with his office’s legal department about what the law would allow him to do. In the wake of that interview, President Donald Trump vowed that the Israeli leader, who could visit New York City this fall for the U.N. General Assembly, would not be arrested in the U.S. in “any way, shape, or form.”In 2024, the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu and accused him of crimes against humanity, which he denied. Mamdani, who described Netanyahu as “the architect of a horrific genocide against the Palestinian people,” also explained why the prime minister should be arrested.“He is responsible for the killing of more than 73,000 people, for the maiming of tens of thousands of children, as those who survive undergo amputation without anesthesia. For the targeting of neonatal hospitals and maternity care centers, denying newborns even the chance to live. For the countless people he starved as he blocked food and humanitarian aid from reaching them. For the gunning down of hundreds of aid workers and journalists,” Mamdani said in his video on Tuesday. “And just last month, the U.N. confirmed that Palestinian children continue to be deliberately targeted and killed by Israeli armed forces more than eight months after the so-called ceasefire.” “I agree with the ICC that Benjamin Netanyahu should be arrested and tried for his crimes, as I do for anyone else charged by the ICC,” he added.Trump Approves Deal With Saudi Arabia To Boost Country’s Nuclear Infrastructure: ReportPresident Donald Trump has approved a 30-year deal with Saudi Arabia to build out the country’s nuclear infrastructure, according to The Wall Street Journal. American companies could create a uranium enrichment facility in Saudi Arabia as part of the deal. Energy Secretary Chris Wright is expected to sign the deal Wednesday, and Congress is set to review it within days, per the outlet. However, the deal may spark concerns among lawmakers who oppose nuclear proliferation in the Middle East.Read more at The Wall Street Journal:Ousted Venezuelan Leader, US Justice Department Propose June 2027 Trial StartOusted Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and prosecutors with the U.S. Justice Department on Tuesday proposed a June 2027 start date for his criminal trial on drug-trafficking charges.The joint proposal came in a court filing ahead of a hearing in Maduro’s case scheduled for Wednesday at 12 p.m. EDT in Manhattan federal court.Read more from Reuters:Measles Cases In U.S. Hit 35-Year-High, Surpassing 2025 Infection RateMeasles cases in the U.S. have hit a 35-year high, according to The Washington Post.Johns Hopkins University’s U.S. measles tracker reported 2,295 cases as of Tuesday, surpassing the 2,289 cases in 2025.In 1991, before the vaccination became widespread, there were more than 9,600 reported cases, The Post noted.See All Updates